In recent times we've seen a number of top former female amateur fighters turn professional, with almost all of them coming to the professional game with notable success as the Olympics. Prior to the current of female stars we did have a number of lower key female fighters who had made their mark on the amateur scene. One of those was Nana Yoshikawa (7-1, 4), who was a 3-weight Amateur champion with an impressive 55 wins in the unpaid ranks. As a professional she claimed her first world title last year, narrowly beating Eun Hye Lee for the WBO female Flyweight title.

This coming Sunday Yoshikawa looks to make her first defense of that title as she takes on Mexican challenger Monserrat Alarcon (8-3-2), who has proven tricky to find much footage of, but has proven to be popular for images. That's because the young Mexican is very photogenic, and it does appear her looks have gotten her some notable attention, perhaps more than her boxing so far.

Although that sounds like we're being harsh “Raya” has proven to be a tough competitor so far, suffering 2 narrow losses to current world champion Alondra Garcia and she holds two good wins over Branda Ramos, to become the Mexican Female Minimumweight champion.

Although there is very limited footage of the Mexican it does look like she is well skilled and moves around the ring well. There is a certain wildness to her punches, but there is plenty to like about her too, and she does look very quick and seems to strike with good counters, though they aren't the sharpest. It's possibly her lack of sharpness which has lead her to never having scored a stoppage, but by that same token she has never been stopped and she does look sturdy in the footage out there.

As with many former amateur standouts Yoshikawa is very well schooled. She might be heading towards her 39th birthday but she's in great shape, with good boxing form and a style that has developed since her 2015 loss, a wide decision defeat to Anabel Ortiz in a bout at 105lbs. She has a filled out frame at Flyweight and can hit hard enough to hurt opponents. It should be said that she was look to over-come Eun Hye Lee last year, but Lee is a world class fighter herself and would be a handful for many Flyweights out there.

On paper Yoshikawa is the more proven fighter here, winning OPBF and world titles, and she's also a fighter with the deep amateur background. She is however a fighter who has been in wars with Ortiz and Lee and could well be on the slide, despite being such a “professional novice”. She has got nice skills, but with age comes the slowing process and she could struggle with stamina and timing as the bout goes on.

Although we think Yoshikawa is heading to the end of her career she does look like a fighter with a few more good fights left in her, and we think that'll show here with her superior skills being too much for the younger, but less talented Alarcon. As Alarcon looks tough we suspect she will go the distance, but we think she'll lose a pretty wide decision here.